Death
by KorrohShipper
Summary: Death brought them together. Death tore them apart. Zombie AU One-shot! Rated T for cursing and implied adult theme. I do not own PJO and HoO. I am not Rick Riordan. Character death!


**Death brought us together.**

I was running through the empty streets of New York, void of any form of traffic because of one small and simple fact: zombies, as of the moment, ruled the streets with absolute, unquestionable, and undisputed power. " _Shit!"_ I hissed when I smelled rotting flesh ( _Just a heads up_ _—it ain't a scent you want for your car_.). They caught up to me, I could tell that they're near me because of the metallic scent of blood that floated through the air.

 _'Aah, they've already committed murder somewhere else.'_

The hoard of zombies running towards me was a sight I never wanted to set my eyes on again. Sure, as a pre-adolescent, I loved zombies ( _What can I say, I was a geek back then!_ ), but when the actual apocalypse broke out, let's say that my high-school fantasy didn't appeal to me that much anymore. Before, it was probably a dream for me—act all smart and heroic to get the girl the end and save mankind, and to _not_ die a virgin. Now? Eh, not so much.

I almost cried out in joy when I saw a convenience store some few meters in front of me. As if I saw food at the end of the race, I ran faster until I reached the door and sealed it shut. I was panting and leaned against the wall when I felt something cold collide with my throat ( _A hint—it was metal, sharp, and deadly!)_ and lifted my head to see a woman. My expression was probably a cocktail of shock, happiness, exhaustion, and irritation.

"Who are you?" honestly, if it weren't for the fact that I had once been ambushed by other survivors, I would dare and act so bold, tell her who the boss is. The sad part was that, when I scanned the convenience store, I saw that the windows were blocked with metals sheets, the shelves half empty, and the deadly knives laid across the floor—it was a fitting sign that said ' _OCCUPIED'_.

"Again, I ask you," she added pressure to her hold on me. I felt like it could draw blood at any moment now and if I spoke up, I would have a cut for everyone to see. "Who are you," she demanded for an answer, her expression deadly calm. "Are you alone," her calculating eyes were captivating, even in this compromising situation. "Or are you with somebody?" her eyes narrowed down at me and I gulped, feeling scared.

 _What_? She was quite intimidating.

"I'm Percy. . . _Percy Jackson_." I stuttered and I was trying to hide my desperately terrified expression. It failed horribly, by the way. She gave me a look and that made me gulp again. "And I'm alone―I swear! I swear to _fucking_ God!" I held both of my hands up, in defeat. She kept her eyes on me and went to check every single corner of this damned convenience store. "Convinced?" I asked her and she gave me a snarl in return. _'What a reply!'_ I thought sarcastically, to myself, of course.

She would gut me, zombie or not, if I said that out loud. And I was thankful, _fucking_ grateful, for the fact that I've decided to hold my pretty little tongue because little did I know, that moment was the start of a beautiful relationship.

* * *

Her name's Annabeth Chase, she's from San Francisco, and she's a Wise Girl.

How did I come across this wonderful fact? Well, I was bored one day and she went on a raid, trying to replenish some of _her_ rations. Like I said, I was so bored ( _Even on a day of the zombie apocalypse, it was so uneventful!_ ), so I went through her stuff ( _That almost got me killed, to be honest!_ ) and saw a year book. It was from Harvard's School of Architecture. She was the magna cum laude of her batch. I smiled as I read her speech.

It was amazing, like the one who made the said speech. It was both polite and intellectual, yet it was quite funny, really funny that it was both sassy and sarcastic to a point even. I was shocked, least to say. I never thought that she had it in her to joke around on a special occasion. I had a good laugh over the photos though, I loved the " _Annabeth Chase: Pre-Apocalypse Edition"._

In short, the yearbook helped me a lot. However, when Annabeth found out that I went through her stuff, let's say that she didn't take it pretty well.

Annabeth, apparently, lost many things when the apocalypse had started, like the most of us. She lost her whole family ( _The sad part was that she couldn't really do anything about it_ _—she wasn't there because she worked here in New York and they were in California_.), whereas I lost my Mom. She lost her fiancé, Luke Castellan, who died trying to protect her only to be bitten and be reanimated into a walking corpse and tried to devour the person he had died for.

What's my sob story? Well, it's nothing much, really. . .

I lost my Mom at the beginning of the apocalypse. But as the apocalypse raged on and as I battled the urge to commit suicide while I was facing and accepting the loss of my mother, my best friend, Leo Valdez, had been bitten and shot himself in the head, letting his body drop into the Hudson River. Now, although losing Leo was painful, the sight seeing him and my girlfriend, Calypso Atlas, share a final kiss before he shot himself was the main attraction.

Yes, they had been cheating on me for quite some time now. When they came clean, it was like a dagger to the chest. That was a rather painful ordeal.

But what I regret the most was that I was drunk when the apocalypse had started. I have always speculated that Calypso was having an affair with somebody. I knew, deep down inside, that the people I have trusted the most were back-stabbing me but I couldn't bring myself to believe that—I guess that I was either too blind, too in love, too trusting, or just in denial.

I guess that I've always knew of their betrayal, and when I caught them, I decided to let some steam loose, let my sorrows go with the only way I knew. Of course, being the face of our company meant that I had to wait until 5. But once I was inside the bar, the façade was gone and I knew that I was pulling an all-nighter with the bottle of whiskey in front of me. That was probably the most pathetic moment of my life. I was at my lowest point, and when I thought things couldn't get any worse, I was proven wrong.

Boy, was I wrong.

My mother was mauled by a zombie in front of me and I didn't do anything to help her. I just ran until I was safe. I was a _fucking_ coward. That was my ultimate regret, leaving my mother to die. For Annabeth, it was acceptable, but for me? I had the freakin' choice to save her and end my life in this wretched apocalypse.

For Annabeth, it was painful because all she could do was imagine how her family died, how she could have saved them if only she had never moved to New York. For me, well I had been killing myself for the fact that it took me a zombie apocalypse to realize that the girl of my dreams was cheating on me with my best friend and that I should've _fucking_ let go of her when I should've _fucking_ let her go.

That mistake had cost my mother and I knew, no matter how many zombies I kill, I will never be able to redeem myself. So, I ran away and I thought everything would be better. I ran away, left my mother to be devoured by a zombie while fooling myself, thinking that she'd be alright and that I'd go back for her later.

Here's a little confession from me: I never went back.

* * *

"You're so stupid, aren't you? _Damn_ you, Percy Jackson. _Damn_ you for being so _fucking_ stupid!"

Annabeth narrowed her eyes at me. I gulped nervously. Fighting the thousand of the undead? That was virtually no problem for me now that I've gotten myself acquainted with my new weapons and I've gotten quite used to the whole world I live in now―the world that's infested with zombies.

We teamed up after saving each other numerous times from near-death encounters.

What can I say? Death brought us together.

We grew closer, as expected. I mean consider this: we're, for what we know, the only survivors ( _Within a fifty-mile radius who won't rob and then kill each other_.) alive. We're of _opposite_ genders. She's a female ( _A magnificent and gorgeous one at that!_ ) and I am a male ( _Yes, even in the most compromising of situations, like a zombie apocalypse, for instance, we males are still prone to these desires―I mean, hot damn! She's a freakin' goddess!_ ). You do the _fucking_ math!

You know what happened next? Biology kicked in. We both hungered for human touch. We both needed the attention, the fiery passion, and we were more than happy to oblige.

"Going on a solo hunt? At night? Have you _fuckin'_ lost it?!" she fixed my bandage. I got scratched (by a tree branch or something) and broke my leg when I was running from a pack of wild and rabid zombies. "Now look at you!" she chided, disinfecting the wounds I've garnered throughout my great marathon of survival through New Jersey ( _I've participated in some charity runs, and just a heads up, there are no water stations or pit stops. Also, it's not fun_.).

"I was only trying to help, Annabeth." I tried to explain myself but she wouldn't hear it. No, she wouldn't accept that. I was sick, probably blood poisoning, and I was just recovering when we ran out of food. Annabeth, of course, had made it her duty to take care of me and when we lacked the food when I required it, she had gallantly set out for the world unknown to get us something to eat ( _And who says chivalry is dead?_ ) so that we wouldn't sleep through the night with an empty stomach.

I panicked when she didn't come back, and it was way past her curfew.

She promised me that she'd be back, safe and sound, after three hours. She had been gone for more than eight hours, actually ( _So much for promising_.). I, of course, went on a hunt and found food and Annabeth. . .and a pack of zombies to come with it ( _It was a package deal—buy one, take the pack of running and starving zombies trying to claw and run after you_.). I tried to outrun them, but they were too fast.

I had to outsmart them, which wasn't a common decision for me ( _If it's Annabeth, then by all means, I wouldn't be surprised_.).

I took this short-cut and ended up surviving. . .and, apparently, injured.

"Oh, come on! We're out of food! You were missing―you've been gone for more than 8 hours! What the hell was I supposed to do? Sit here and be _fucking_ useless?! Wait for you to return―" she cut me off, not letting me finish, her expression mirroring my own: furious.

"What else? You're sick, Percy!" she countered and pointed to the thermometer. I sighed before giving her a look.

A look that said _'What-the-fuck?!'_. No matter how hard she had argued, her point failed to click with me.

"What? You're telling me that I should wait for you return as a zombie? As one of them?" I pointed outside the window. "What would you want me to do, Annabeth? Wait for you to return dying? To watch you die in my arms?" I shook my head at the thought of Annabeth dying. "No, I refuse to hear your last words! I refuse to craddle you as you die because of this. . . _apocalypse_!" I was stubborn, but guess what? She's an even more stubborn Wise Girl. I took a deep breath and sighed. "If I didn't find you, you would've been dead, or worse, one of them." I said slowly cupping her face in my hands, capturing her lips gently with my own lips. "I was just trying to help," there was this underlying tone in my voice.

It was need.

Soon the kiss grew more needier, more passionate.

"You're no good to me if you're dead, _Perseus_." She snarled through gritted teeth, as if she was trying to convey that she's still annoyed and irritated. But there was need in her voice too. It was more of a confession, actually. "You can't risk your life like that," she said in between kisses before yanking my shirt's collar, pulling me in deeper in her spell, making it impossible to escape this trance ( _Not that I want to, anyway_.). "I have no idea what I'll do if you're gone." She said, her fingers tangled in my hair while my hands were cupping her face.

"I love you, Percy." There was this certain heat to it. It was unfamiliar and new, but something I knew somehow. "I love you, so _fucking_ much, that it'll kill me if anything would to you." Her lips were quivering and I met her eyes, those startling yet beautiful stormy grey eyes.

"And I love you too, Annabeth. More than you'll ever know." Soon, there was nothing in between us. There was a lack of clothing, and what replaced the articles of clothing was a thin sheet of sweat. We were a tangled mess, but we're together―to me, that compensates for a lot of things.

When she fell into sleep's deep spell, I kissed her temple and breathed in her scent. I sighed contently when the familiar scent of strawberries and lemons reached my nostrils. ' _When this is over_ ,' I made a mental note as I slowly succumb to sleep, ' _I would feast on them_.' Smiling at the goddess by my side, I wrapped an arm around her and held her tighter.

Silently, I murmured before I went to sleep.

"Forever and always."

* * *

 **Death took its toll on us.**

We were on this hunt. Our previous shelter, an apartment, was soon overrun. Our scents were to thank for that. For the night, we took refuge in a school ( _A fancy boarding school called Yancy in Upstate New York_ _—we ended up back in New York_.). We thought that we were safe. We've barricaded the doors and blocked all the windows but we were so full of ourselves. We thought we were safe from the walkers. We were so arrogant. It was my downfall.

A zombie got in. Everything was loud. That attracted other zombies. Soon, the schoolyard was flooded with zombies. Annabeth and I were trapped and we had no safe exit. I cursed myself for having let my guard down.

I kissed Annabeth, seeing that this could be our last night together. Even in the moment of danger and crisis, she still looked gorgeous. Her eyes reflected the moonlight as did her hair as it swayed with the air―wait, that's it!

The air! The ventilation! There has got to be some ventilation here!

Alas, the zombies had already infiltrated the school and I hear them growling as they ran towards us, trying to find us using our scent. I barricaded doors after doors. I cursed when I heard them getting nearer at an accelerated pace.

 _'Fuck,'_ I thought, trying to clear and calm my mind. _'They're getting stronger!'_ I then thought of something so stupid.

I saw this ring when we were finding a place to hide at. It wasn't grand, it was just a plastic ring, nothing extravagant. I grabbed my knife and slided it swiftly across my arm. It resembled claw marks. I wanted to hiss at the pain but I stopped myself.

I let a few tears drop down my cheeks. The zombies, even with a barricade blocking the vent, can enter the vents. I blocked the doors with several heavy furniture and they managed to get through it; they can surely get through a simple wooden teacher's desk.

I felt myself sob a bit and I remembered my life.

They would catch up with us in no time, unless someone stayed behind to fight them, buy the other enough time to escape.

Annabeth would have never allowed me to stay behind. I would fight tooth and nail just to give her a valid reason.

"Hey, Percy?" I heard Annabeth's voice. It jarred me back to reality. "We'll make it out of this, you hear me?" she cupped my face, not noticing my fake claw marks. "We can do this, I know we can." She was so beautiful in the moonlight. Her face showed her determination. However, the determination came with the nervousness, the exhaustion, the terrified expression that I dread. I knew that look and I knew what I had to do.

Annabeth was desperate and I knew she had no options. She just trying to fool herself. She was slowly giving up.

Tears fell.

"Hey, Annabeth," her face whipped to my direction and I gave her a small and sad smile. "After all of this, will you marry me?" I tossed her the ring and she caught it. Her eyes watered and she came over to embrace me. I winced in pain, seeing that she had touched my fresh wound, but it didn't really matter to me. I was having a moment with Annabeth—probably our last moment, actually.

"Of course, I love you." Annabeth replied and I gave her a long kiss. "When this is all over." She promised, but I shook my head.

"No." I insisted otherwise. "Marry me _now_." I begged her, my voice already broken. "If you want to marry me. . .then marry me now." I said, grabbing her hands, showing the ring. "We've got no time—it's now or never, Annabeth, _please._ " I was slowly letting her in this, searching her eyes for any answer.

"Wha―Percy, we don't have time for this." Annabeth said but I shook my head.

"I love you," I said before kissing her. My face begged her. Her features had softened remarkably. "Please, listen to me," I had let the tears fall on her hand. "We don't have time." I explained to her but she wouldn't have it.

"Exactly, Percy! This could wait, I swear! Once we're safe and sound, we can talk about that, Percy, just not now." She tried to convince while the sound of wood crashing was getting louder. "Please, I beg of you, not now!" I shook my head

"That's a yes, right?" I was desperate, my voice broke. "You said yes, right?" she tearfully nodded and I laughed. "Then marry me." She was confused for a bit when I winced in pain. When she felt something, she withdrew her hand and stared at it in shock. It was time to start the final act. "I don't really have much time here, Annabeth." The tears had over run my face.

"Percy," she was confused until I showed her my ( _fake_ ) clawed arm. Soon, Annabeth too had tears running through her face and started pacing around. "No, this can't be happening." I gave her a sad smile. "You're going to be okay, we'll find a way to solve this―I can create a cure." She stopped when I lead her to the air vent and stepped away. "Percy, we can make it out, I swear, just please," her face showed her desperation and it almost made me give up. "Don't do this!" I kissed her one last time before pushing her through the air vent. She cupped my face, shaking her head softly. "Don't do this me, don't give up on us." I shook my head and pushed her inside the vent.

"I'm sorry." I said, screwing the the cover back. She placed her hand against the cold metal and I placed mine right across her hand.

"Go," I said, facing her before sharply turning my head to the door, it was already rattling.

"No, I won't leave you." Her voice broke, rough as sandpaper and broken as the world right now. I want to comfort her, tell her that she'll be fine but I couldn't risk her life like that. I couldn't do that—I can't be that selfish, to deprive her of the chance of surviving. . .like what I did with my mother. I refuse to let that happen, to let history repeat itself on me.

"But you have to, remember?" I gave her a small and sad smile.

"Yes."

I was confused until I remembered the proposal. I gave out a tearful laugh and ended sobbing inside. How could I be so selfish? How could I promise myself to her for all of time when here I am, forcing her to leave me so that I could die. How could I make her marry me when I lied to her so that she could leave me? How could I deprive her of a future that I promised her? Well, promises break before they're made—if I have to break her heart, so that she could live, then I will.

"You can't die now, you're engaged." Wooden splinters were already flying across the room. "I love you." She breathed out before I stood up and pressed the desk against the wall, covering the vent.

"I love you too, Annabeth." I murmured as I breathed out, gently letting out a sob.

"Percy!" Annabeth cried out. I heard some banging from her side. She was trying to get to me. "Let me out! Please," she cried, sobbing hysterically. "Please, don't do this to me!" I muted her voice out as focused on the door and what would come flooding in the room soon.

The doors finally flew open and I charged against them. I yelled out in pain as a zombie sunk his teeth in my arm. "Annabeth, go! Please, I beg of you!" I yelled out and I heard a strangled sob and hurried movements.

I gave out a bitter laugh and smile.

I sliced and diced through their faced and bodies until I dropped to the floor. The zombies were already surrounding me, as if I'm an item for sale and attracted numerous buyers. I screamed out in pain when a zombie bit me in the neck.

Soon, my life flashed before me.

I saw my mother, my sucky-ish life in highschool, an all-nighter during college, my graduation. I saw Calypso, I saw how happy I was with her. Then, I saw Leo, I saw happy they were. Something snapped inside me, I realized something: maybe there's a reason why that had happened.

Maybe there's a reason why she's not the one for me—maybe, it's because she led me to Annabeth.

I smiled at the thought, despite being devoured by zombies. Sure, my life is ending, probably in a couple of minutes, but it's better than dying without realizing just how blind I've been! At least, in the end (the very end, actually), I finally forgave them. . .and myself.

 **Death tore us apart.**


End file.
